by political editor Paul Francis

Thousands of students in Kent and Medway are set to lose grants paid to encourage them to continue their education.

More than 17,000 students in Kent and Medway receive Education Maintenance Allowances - the highest take-up of the grant in the south east.

Hundreds could lose their grants halfway through their courses with no guarantee of anything to replace them because of a government move to abolish them.

The allowances, worth up to £30 a week for some students, are designed to boost the number of young people staying on at school and college after the age of 16.

Figures show that in Kent, 14,333 students qualify for the grants while in Medway, 3,008 do. Many are from poorer backgrounds, with many eligible for free school meals.

MPs are set to vote on the government’s plan to scrap the grants today, triggering fears that many who get the grants will be forced to abandon plans to stay on at school or college.

The government wants to replace the grants with a hardship fund adminstered by schools and colleges to help the poorest students but at a much lower level of subsidy.

Dara Farrell, a Kent Labour member of the UK Youth Parliament from Ashford, said: "These allowances have been a great success in encouraging young people to stay on in education, especially in deprived areas of the county. Scrapping it will simply push people out of college into trying to find work. Staying on will no longer be an option as it has been."

Click here to read our business editor Trevor Sturgess's blog on student fees

Fewer students would be able to continue their studies on to A-levels, depriving them of the chance to go to university, he added.

"A lot of people will not even bother thinking about going to university. Students often use the money to help with travel or books and equipment," he said.

The move to scrap the grants was criticised by opposition Labour county councillor Les Christie.

"There is no doubt that withdrawing this will hurt those who are least able to afford to stay on in education."

A Department for Education spokesman said:"EMA is a hugely expensive programme, costing over £560 million a year with costs of administration amounting to £36 million. Pilot evidence and more recent research from the National Foundation for Educational Research found that almost 90 per cent of young people receiving the EMA believed they would still have participated in the courses they were doing if they had not received it."

He added: "Young people currently receiving the EMA will continue to receive if for the rest of the academic year. They will not receive it next academic year however."